I personally will never do anything but a boy/girl pair for a very long time.

A very general, overly simplistic comment...

I have a male and three female GSDs. They are not crated. They live together, get along with each other, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Do they occasionally have a posturing issue? Yup. Do they go after each other? No.

Do I advocate dog packs? No. Most people can not handle one dog forget two dogs at one time.

It has been my experience that while there are some dogs that are fierce, many dogs will respond to a dominant handler.

Often, the signs of an issue manifest before the issue turns into action. It is in the recognition of the issues and stopping stuff before it ramps into action where the handler dominates.

It seems to me most dogs would rather have an intervention than a ramp-up. That said, I have had dogs that can go from zero to sixty without much warning - in fact, one of my females is that kind of dog X2.

I do not tolerate any kind of attitude. I stop it immediately. Ever vigilant is my motto. Over time the atmosphere is set, and the attitudes adjust to the reality. Life is in harmony.

I own everything - toys, food, beds, space, time, activity, exercise, training - everything. So...

While I find no fault with the assertion that there are rules of thumb, like not having two females proximate, my experience is that with work, that issue can be managed. There are always exceptions to rules.

Two cents.

 Quote: mike arnold

I have a male and three female GSDs. They are not crated. They live together, get along with each other, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Do they occasionally have a posturing issue? Yup. Do they go after each other? No.

Mike,
If your females had gotten into a brawl at one point, do you think you would still have the same type of peaceful existence you do now?
or do you think it would've changed things dramatically and you would have to seperate them
This is honestly just a question, im not arguing.
I've never owned 2 dogs at once, never mind two females.

I just want to make sure that the op understands that your females have never hit that point (im assuming that anyway)with each other, and the reason they are that way is because they've never been allowed to get to that "redzone" point with one another.

I always knew that with maturing would come issues, but everyone around me was so hung up on the two male issue, I will be completely honest in being complacent about the girls because they always groomed each other, played and slept together, I have always fed them separately for obvious reasons, my fault this happened, no doubt about it.

Hi

Since that incident I have been rotating them during the evening, and my daughter who is on leave is handling the day time stuff, we allow them to meet through the gates and there is no aggression, no snarling or barking, when they are allowed to come together they go straight to the butt sniffing and then it is the pointer who does the tap dancing routine, and while I see that as her invitation to kiss and make up, the body language of the boerboel is chest forward, head up and tail curled over like a scorpion, so it's a hey! no! and a correction, usually a nudge in the side with my knee, or in the case of the hardier boerboel, a slap on the rump, then it's seperate rooms again, as soon as there is that barrier between them, shoulders go down, tails drop and they just mooch off, am I giving off an anxious vibe? I am not conciously doing so, and I am genuinley not alarmed or frightened about the possibility of a set to, but harmony is preferable of course! I take your point about a pack, and in an ideal world I would still have my husband and both my adult sons at home, but it's just me and my daughter now and the dogs are my responsibility, and I am just going to have to suck it up and get on with it, we have a long bank holiday weekend this week and I am going to spend most of it working and re-working the whole pack dynamic and get a grip on this, thanks for your reply, appreciate it.

Regards
Tracey

Yep got that, and I know without a doubt it was my fault, the boerboel is a very dominant breed and I love that, and because the pointer is the other end of the scale it hasn't been a major problem up until now of course, but yes I do realise I let the rough housing escalate, and that is why this happened, lessons absolutely and painfully learned.

Thanks and regards
Tracey

I think there is another thread on this subject, or built into another topic.

I had never experienced a fight amongst my dogs before, growing up or while having my own, but we always had males. I have since had 3 female Paps,1 male GSD, their ages were GSD 13, Female Paps 16,7,6. There were never any problems,NONE, and all dogs were living together. It wasn't until the GSD 13 and the 16 yo pap died within months apart, two weeks later, a bitch fight broke out. My daughter was opening her bedroom door, the small 3.5 pound Pap darted by the 7.5 pound Pap{ that was at the doorway} into the room, all hell broke lose! They have not been left unsupervised since.